Using ALES on the ITC Network

0. Basic idea

  1. One copy of the ALES program is located on a Windows2000 network application server.
    Everyone runs this same copy of the program.
  2. Each user works on their own evaluation models, located on their Windows2000 networked data partition.

Advantages

  1. No need to install ALES on multiple machines
  2. The same ALES models can be accessed from any computer that is connected to the Windows2000 network, in any cluster or office, or even from home.

1. Directories

You must have the following mapped drives and directories:

p:\dtmlocation of the ALES program and support files
m:\dtm\evallocation of your ALES models

p:\dtm (ALES program) has been set up by the system administrator; you will have to set up m:\dtm\eval yourself, as explained in the next section.

2. Setup

  1. You must create m:\dtm\eval, typically with the Windows Explorer.

    The m: drive itself has already been set up by the system administrator for your Windows2000 login. So, you just have to create the subdirectory dtm.

  2. You need your own copy of the two files which contain the ALES models (EVAL-GBL.IND and EVAL-GBL.DAT). These should be placed in your own directory: m:\dtm\eval, as follows:
    Copy the 'master version' of the ALES models, which are located at p:\dtm\eval, to your own directory m:\dtm\eval.

  3. If you already have some ALES models elsewhere, save them as an ALES Save (.ALS) file, using F7 from the model list, in your existing copy of ALES. You will restore them to your network version of ALES (see next section).

3. Use

ALES is a DOS program. From Windows 95, NT, or 2000, you can:
  1. open a DOS full-screen or window session, usually by selecting from the Start Menu, first "Programs", then "Accessories", then "Command Prompt". Once you have the DOS prompt:
  2. change the drive to p:
  3. change the directory to p:\dtm
  4. run ALES from the DOS command line, with one of the commands:
These will automatically work on your ALES models stored in your network partition, m:\dtm\eval. Any DOS files that you save or read, including saved ALES models (.ALS) or xBase files (.DBF), will by default be in m:\dtm; you can change this in the program options.
How does this work? The ALES program in p:\dtm has been set up (via the configuration file mumps.dbd) to look for user's ALES models in m:\dtm\eval, and since each user has their own m: drive, each time ALES runs, it looks for models on the logged-in user's own m: drive.

You can create a shortcut to ALES on the Windows Desktop or in your Start menu. Use command ALES.BAT and startup directory p:\dtm.

If you have any saved models (.ALS files), you should restore them (with F8) to your newly-installed ALES.

4. Questions?

  1. Look at the ALES Home Page
  2. Send an e-mail to the author.

Author: D G Rossiter; Last update: 28-June-2001